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作者信息   主题: 【卫国战争老兵回忆】尼古拉·奇斯佳科夫 14638

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  发表时间: 2010-1-23 20:27:14             

特别提示:本帖子在 2018-9-5 13:11:09 由用户 白瑞德 编辑过

http://www.iremember.ru/content/view/53/75/lang,en/
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com


浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com



浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com


浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I was born in 1923 and at the age of 16 I became an automobile technikum (technical secondary school) freshman in the city of Ivanovo. However, next year I stopped my studies – there wasn’t a livelihood for continuing my education. Our family felt a food and money shortage – there were seven children, and I was the oldest son. There was in our village a weaving worker’s cooperative where I succeeded in getting a job as a warehouse manager. I don’t remember what my salary was in rubles but I firmly remember – it was very low.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com


浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

我出生于1923年。16岁那年我进入了伊万诺沃的中等职业技术学校学习。第二年我被迫中断了学习——家里没有钱再继续负担我的学业。家里一共有7个孩子,我是老大。回到村里后没多久我就在纺织合作社里找到了份仓库管理员的工作。我不记得每个月的工资是多少卢布,但是我很清晰的记得钱很少。
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

On Sunday 22 June 1941 my father and I worked in a forest where our family had a piece of woodland. It was a warm sunny day. During our lunchtime we walked to a village in some two or three kilometers. When we bumped into a group of local people they asked us: “Do you know that the war began?” The war began! There wasn’t a radio in the village, so, probably, the orderlies of the district’s military registration and enlistment office (18 kilometers apart) arrived.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I wasn’t 18 years of age yet. And our father was drafted right away and directed to the Nizhnii Novgorod area[下诺夫哥罗德]. I became the older man in our family. Nevertheless, soon all our pre-conscripts, including me, were mobilized for so-called labor front. We dug antitank ditches on the Volga River’s[伏尔加河] western bank. We also chopped down trees in the forest, then took them across the river where blindages and antitank escarpments were constructed. I worked there about four months until the military registration and enlistment office summoned me. At that time some of our villagers already received statements about their close relatives’ deaths in actions…
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I was drafted on 2 February 1942 and dispatched to the Moscow Machinegun-Mortar Military College that was temporarily relocated to the city of Kazan’[喀山] because the Germans still were not so far from Moscow.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

On 8 March I received a telegram about my mom’s death. I showed it the training battalion commander. And such a vermin didn’t let me off to the funeral. I told him: “There is nobody there to bury her.” The captain retorted: “Are you the only one in that situation? Do you know how many families are perishing now on the West?” His refusal was firm, damn him. If it happened at the front, I’d have shot him, such an evil person! Those like he clung to their service in the rear with their hands and feet. This captain’s ugly face is still on my mind. Why not to release me for nothing but three days? It was so close – just some 430 kilometers from home!
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

My father was released from the army as the only parent of six small children. He returned home after the funeral.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

We stayed in Kazan' some two months. By April, when the Red Army forced the Germans a little more back, our college was relocated to the railroad station of Khlebnikovo[赫列布尼科沃] near Moscow. There the college occupied two buildings: the mortarmen building was near the station and the machine gunner building was located directly near the Moscow Canal. When we, the mortar men, first entered our casern, we saw walls, windows, doors and nothing more. Work orders for equipping the casern started. We fished out floating logs from the canal, dragged them to the power-saw bench where the planking was made. And so we equipped our caserne with plank beds. A room for our future studies was also furnished. We did a lot of hard work.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

The cadets were provided with a primitive quilted uniform: just jackets and trousers. Although there was quite cold weather we weren't even provided with mittens.
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At the same time we suffered from malnutrition. A watery pea soup was the breakfast. A pea soup and a tablespoon of cooked peas as a second course were our dinner. We had peas for supper again! Because of such nutrition I became a bag of bones.
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I can’t forget the graduation day in November 1942, when we were ready to leave the college. It was 5 p. m. The college “business figures” tried to make good at our expense: not to feed us the third time. All of us declared that we refused to leave until receiving the dry rations. They had no choice and fed us and gave the packed meals. There were 300 graduates – do you understand how much easy money they tried to profit that day!
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

There was accelerated training for the mortarmen cadets. It lasted six months, 14 hours of training daily. We mastered the 50-mm company mortar. There were also the 82-mm battalion mortars, however I studied the 50-mm one.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com


浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

A. D. – How did you start fighting at the front?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

N. Ch. – Being in a lieutenant rank I was appointed to the 77th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 26th Guards Rifle Division as a mortar platoon commander. This division mainly acted in break-through missions. Only occasionally and no longer than a day or two did it take part in defensive fightings. The division usually pierced enemy’s defense and, if it was possible, continued advancing. Otherwise, another division replaced it, while the 26th division was shifted to the rear for reinforcements. Running many steps forward, I remember how we were stopped near Briansk[布良斯克]. A hemp field was the no man’s land. In the middle of it was a potato bunker. Both the Germans and we visited it in turn for potatoes. This situation lasted less than a day, and then we continued the offensive…
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

In several days after my arrival in the unit, more precisely in late November 1942, our regiment was directed to attack the enemy. We forced a crossing over a frozen river and continued moving in the usual battalion column of march: 1st company, 2nd company, 3rd company and so on. We entered the battlefield as a marching column. It was my first combat, it was my baptism of fire that I can’t forget and will never forget. That wasn’t a war, it was a real crime. It was an ignorant and criminal play at fighting! For such guidance the command deserved death by shooting. Was it an organized offensive?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Absolutely not! No usual preliminary artillery bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. That combat was a genuine crime. Being not a military man you barely can imagine it. How could they direct a close column into fighting? Not to disperse it at least by platoons or squads if not in line? I was a platoon commander but didn’t know either enemy’s position or the direction of our attack. I’m sure that the Germans never entered a fight as a column of march. They never acted that way.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Let’s remember some details of that terrible combat. When we just approached the river I saw an injured horse standing. Although I was completely inexperienced I understood that the enemy was not so far ahead. Nevertheless, we were marching as a column. Then we crossed the river. The opposite bank was somewhat steep. When we ascended it, I saw a regimental 76-mm field gun standing in its emplacement. Although I wasn’t experienced, I knew that the position of a regimental gun couldn’t be farther than the third line of trenches. No farther! Thus, the enemy was somewhere nearby. We continued moving and passed the second line of trenches. Nevertheless, we kept on marching almost as if with a marching song. At the left of us I saw our tanks burned out in some one kilometer or less: one the turret blew up, the second, the third… A combat had taken place. We passed the first line of our trenches. The enemy’s shooting was already heard. As soon as we entered the no man’s land – all of a sudden they shot at us with all sorts of their weapon, they mowed us down! It was a true slaughter. A living flesh was turning into dead one. That was our start… Rifle platoon commander – killed. Deputy battalion commander for political affairs lost his leg… However, I remembered my duty and knew that we had to advance. I ordered my soldiers: “Ahead!” A small haystack and a group of bushes were at the center of the no man’s land. I explained to my subordinates that we will take our position in the middle of the bushes and we started running there by short rushes. Screams and groans were heard all around us – a true horror.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

We took our position in the bushes and were preparing for fire. However, the Germans already noticed us, and their machine guns began to fire at our position. At the left of the haystack I saw a group of Uzbeks[乌兹别克人] or Tajiks[塔吉克人] shouting loudly in their language (they had such a rule: if something unusual happened – they gathered and began shouting).
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

As soon as we emplaced our mortars, a salvo of shells fell at our position. I had been injured in my right side. It wasn’t a serious wound but a shell’s fragment pierced the short fur coat, the quilted trousers and got stuck in my thigh. What should I do? Where was the company commander, the battalion commander? Nobody was there! I didn’t know who were our neighboring detachments at the left and at the right! I didn’t know where the enemy was! I didn’t know what was our goal! I didn’t know anything! My commanders should settle on both our immediate and following missions. We should be informed who were our neighbors at both sides, who would support us. However, nothing had been done…
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Being injured I told my deputy: “You have to act for me and I will make my way to the regimental medical company. Let them clear away my wound and so on.” I went alone and still don’t believe how I managed to reach our rear under the intense fire. Perhaps the Germans weren’t interested in one-man targets as I was. In our medical battalion a doctor and a nurse cleansed my wound. Then I was evacuated to a rear hospital where I underwent the treatment for some 15 days or less. After the treatment – again at the front, again in my regiment of the same division.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

While being in our medical battalion I got to know that our regiment had a substantial number of casualties in that “offensive,” which I don’t like to remember. Actually, I became fuming each time I remember that awful combat. [Translator’s note: N. Ch. uses foul language]. How could it happen?! Did the regiment commander really not know where the enemy’s positions were? If he knew, why didn’t the battalion commanders know? Where was the division commander? General Korzhanevskii was an educated and intelligent general. Why then was everything organized so badly? Certainly, there were some individual culprits. If our battalion column had been dispersed beforehand in a line or at least by squads our losses wouldn’t have been so numerous…
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I'm continuing my narrative on the memorable episodes of my combat past. Our regiment was in trenches when I returned from the hospital in March 1943. Suddenly a nightly reconnaissance attack was launched. However it was so badly organized! Just two Katiusha's salvos at the enemy's first line of defense and we rushed ahead. Which way? A ditch full of wate ran along the no man's land. It turned out to be quite deep. I dashed into water up to the waist and jumped out righ away. We continued our movement and reached a damaged truck in the middle of the no man's land. At that moment a command to return came in. Nobody knew whether the mission was successful, was a “tongue” seized or not. We returned to our trenches and foxholes. It was night, so all of us fell down as we were. I woke up in morning – wet through and covered in mud all over. I thought – that’s all: I’ll fall sick of cold or pneumonia. However nothing happened: no catarrh, no sneezing. My young constitution was perfectly prepared for such difficulties: no medicine, no tablets. Hot tea was a sufficient remedy…
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Next memorable episode happened during our advance. I saw in a German foxhole an abandoned MG-34 machine gun along with three cans of cartridges. My platoon continued to advance but I stopped and charged the MG-34. A German column was neatly visible at a distance of 300-400 meters. They just began retreating toward a forest. At that very moment I gave a long burst of fire at the column. all of a sudden. While firing I saw the Germans dashing aside in the column – a good evidence that I hit them. I remember that two cans of cartridges were used up. I fired until the machine gan began to “spit” and its barrel got red-hot. I left everything on the spot for the “trophy command” that usually followed us and began catching up with my soldiers. Now I’m thinking (at that time I still wasn’t experienced enough) that the enemy took note of me, perhaps a sniper. It wasn’t similar to a stray bullet. A weak bullet, probably from a long distance, hit me. It pierced my quilted trousers, the boot, soft tissues of my leg and fell out. I keep it as a reminder of my second injury. Although no bones were hit, it was difficult to go and I stopped. Two medical orderlies helped me to reach our rear. Here the wound was cut a little, cleansed and sealed. Then I was evacuated to a hospital. I was treated there less than a half of a month. I was young, so the wound had healed quickly. I think that I deserved to be decorated for what I did with the MG-34 but my injury ruined the opportunity.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I need to digress for a while to complete two topics mentioned above. The first one concerns the machine gun MG-34. Up to me, the German light armament was better than ours, especially the submachine guns and machine guns. Evidently the barrel of the MG-34 was perfectly designed and as a result the MG-34’s grouping of shots was much better than our machine gun's. Also the setting of MG-34’s cartridge belt was easy. There wasn’t a problem to master operation of the MG-34 as well.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Now let me return to the decorating topic. There was in 1943 another combat when I deserved an award – that time I saved the battalion’s commissar with my mortar. At that time our offensive was stopped about 150 meters from a German trench which extended along an edge of a forest. We assembled our mortar in a shell-hole. Helmets of German soldiers were visible running along the trench. Unexpectedly I saw our commissar, a man at the age of around fifty, going toward German position (there wasn’t a complete front line yet) and they wanted to capture him. To rescue him I opened intense fire at the German trench – I was well trained in fire control. Finally the Germans dispersed in the forest and our commissar survived. I wasn’t awarded for that combat episode as well. Nevertheless, I was decorated with the order of the Red Star and with the medal “For Combat Merits.” Sorry, I don’t remember which year that happened.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

After the treatment in the hospital I was directed back in my division which was at that time near the city of Serpeisk[谢尔佩伊斯克], Smolensk Oblast' (province). Our battalion was situated in a small village, where both the reinforcements and the training took place. The division command chose a special ground for tactical training. It resembled the sector of the front where our break-through was assumed. In contrast to the 1942 experience, there was a wise attitude toward training the troops for combat. Do you remember that in 1942 the recruits from the Central-Asian region didn't even know how to use a rifle? When I remember these facts I don't want to live more...
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

At that time the division was a part of the 11th Guards Army. The Army Commander was General-Major I. Kh. Bagramian. Our division was at the northern leg of the Kursk Arc. What happened at the Kursk Arc in summer 1943 was, of course, an outstanding battle. It was actually organized in the right way. First, a strategic defense was organized there. The Red Army wore the attacking Germans down to such extent that they had no choice but to stop their offensive. Meanwhile a huge amount of guns, mortars, tanks and aircraft had been concentrated, and our troops launched a powerful counter-offensive. It started with extremely strong artillery bombardment. Our division was in the second echelon, so we started with the pursuit of the retreating enemy. All our troops were beating its heels.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Actions of our low-flying attack aircraft were especially effective. Our attack planes the IL-2 were armed with missiles (“small Katiushas”). They performed their low-flying attacks by surges. The first surge finished, in a half of a minute – the second surge started, then – the third! It was nice to observe! And it was easy to advance, there was a high enthusiasm! The Germans fled, they abandoned everything, even trucks with their engines on. If at present, almost anyone could drive a truck or car but at that time a driver was a rarity. We put our mortars on German bicycles and continued pursuing the enemy. We also saw several short columns of German prisoners who were escorted by guards.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Soon our battalion commander informed that the battalion was ordered to seize a small valley ahead of us. We had to dislodge the enemy, its strength was about one battalion. We approached the very edge of the valley and began installing our 82-mm mortars. My deputy, a senior sergeant of Smolensk, a robust and a very nice man stood ahead of me. Suddenly a heavy shell blew up behind him. He fell, and at that very moment a fragment hit me in the temple and got stuck there, while a second one pierced my neck, got into my mouth and I spat it out. The senior sergeant saved me with his body: it reduced the strength of the fragments that hit me. Soon it came to light that our regiment commander ordered the supporting 152-mm battalion to bombard German position at the edge of the valley. As ill luck would have it, the Germans had abandoned their trenches beforehand and the bombardment started just when we were occupying empty enemy’s position. So my third injury was a result of a “friendly fire,” and this time I can’t blame somebody for what happened to me. In any case I can’t say that it was done knowingly.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Because of the injury I didn’t see how our offensive developed. Nevertheless, the Kursk battle demonstrated how much our power had gained – in tanks, artillery, aircraft. And our warriors changed as well, they became much more experienced already.
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After being treated in a hospital I returned in the division when the city of Orel[奥廖尔] was liberated. I remember burnt buildings in the city and a burnt German self-propelled gun “Ferdinand” on the Orel’s outskirts.
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After the Kursk battle our division took part in the successful “Bagration” operation[巴格拉基昂行動] in the Minsk direction. At that time we chased the enemy for about 300 kilometers. It was a substantial success.
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Like my first and second injuries, my fourth one was a result of an actual crime. It happened by the end of July 1944. I remember that the rye in the field was still green but already high. Our division was in the second echelon and we marched in columns along an asphalt road Moscow – Minsk. We saw on the left of us a fire in the city of Orsha[奥尔沙]. Unexpectedly a regiment commander’s order arrived: our battalion had to cross a field and reach the branch of the road, where we will meet the enemy. Nevertheless, the battalion continued to march in columns. The battalion HQ chief led the column. Being young and impatient I mended my pace and soon came up to the HQ chief. I told him: “We are in a combat situation although we don’t see the Germans. Why not to organize a patrol to know what is going on in front of us?” Using the foul language, the HQ chief tried to convince me that the Germans were retreating. I insisted: “Why not direct just an advanced patrol of two – a sergeant with a soldier? It would be quite enough.” I was unable to make him change his mind, the road was open and we continued marching. Soon we saw a knoll overgrown with shrubs on our way. When we were skirting it, the branch of the Moscow – Minsk road became visible. We saw there five “Tigers” moving toward Orsha with a company of submachine gunners on them. As soon as about a half of our leading company went out close to the road, the tanks stopped and turned round the turrets, while the submachine gunners leaped down into a roadside ditch and opened fire at our soldiers. Thank God that only a part of the first company was at the open land and all other detachments remained behind the knoll. My company was the last one, so I went into the middle of the shrubs. A terrible fire! Bullets targeted the shrubs, too. Suddenly a shell blew up somewhere beside me, and a fragment pierced my hucklebone. At first I was able to go and I decided to return where my company waited for me. I managed to overpass the knoll and see my soldiers but I fell down there unable to go. The injury was too serious. It was my last combat in the war.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

What can I say on this fight? Generally, the rifle battalion HQ chief was an important figure at the war. Why then that man didn’t organize his battalion movement according to the combat regulations? It was enough to appoint an advancing patrol in proper time – we would have no losses. Our 45-mm antitank guns could shoot down these tanks.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I don’t know results of that combat (particularly, whether the tanks left their positions or not) because right away I was taken into a wagon and delivered to a hospital.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

In that hospital I heard that the 77th Guard Rifle Regiment fought there not so long before our arrival and failed. During that combat the Germans captured sergeant Smirnov[斯米尔诺夫], born in the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo. They questioned him but Smirnov refused to answer. Then the Germans crucified him like Christ – they nailed him to the wall of the dugout. Smirnov was posthumously awarded with the highest honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union...
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

I'd like to return to the cause of our losses near Orsha. I consider that it wasn't a mistake, actually it was absolutely plain crime. If you now ask the battalion HQ chief regarding his action, the answer would be: Chistiakov is wrong. Of course, negligence, indifference, and boasting of an easy victory were common at that time and exist to the present day. However, in 1944 we already had a wide combat experience. Even my view on how to perform military operations underwent substantial changes. By that time we had many experienced commander and soldiers, especially, among the mortar men, who were less liable to fall out than the riflemen. Some of them reached Berlin.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

You could see also a noticeable improvement in the quantity and quality of our armament and equipment. Remember for example the 40-50-minute-long artillery cannonades before our attacks at the Kursk Arc or near Minsk. It was pleasant to see how everything on the abandoned German positions was destroyed when we advanced after these cannonades.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Can you compare this to our 1942 actions when nobody even knows where our enemy was? Was it a real war at that time? No!
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

A. D. – What can you say about the hospitals?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

N. Ch. – I was treated in hospitals four times. After my last injury I was treated for five months. In general, the treatment was wonderful! It is hardly to believe that so many injured warriors were healed in such short terms.
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I was twice treated in the city of Pushkino[普希金诺] and one time in the city of Dmitrov[德米特罗夫], Ul’yanov Oblast’. These hospitals were situated in former school buildings. The treatment was perfect and the nourishment – wonderful.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Why did my fourth treatment last five months? As you may remember, my hucklebone had been broken. In the hospital I underwent a surgery and initially everything looked healed, however, shortly after a fistula arose and some muck began dripping out from it. The second surgery was performed on me, again they cleansed all around. Alas, the muck continued dripping out. And I was directed to the mud care in the city of Serov, not far from the city of Kuibyshev. It was a sanatorium above a lake, and a small pond with the mud rich in mineral ingredients. A drastic mud. It sucked out all the muck, and it healed me. I remember a group of poisoned children arrived there from Moscow – all of them were cured. People walking on crutches came there and left the sanatorium walking well. I was discharged from there in December 1944. My bones never ached after that treatment. I even won the first category in skiing!
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Let me digress for a while to my previous treatment in hospitals. Each time when I was being discharged from a hospital I asked them to direct me back to my division, to my regiment. Only after my second injury the disharging commission refused and I was directed to the 18th Guards Division where I served in the division officers reserve. Once, in spring 1943, during division re-deployment to another front by a train, we had a stop at some railroad station. All of us left the train and took a lunch sitting at the roadside. Suddenly, a column of march headed by a brass orchestra approached us. Some of the bandsmen looked familiar. I asked them and they confirmed that was my 77th Guards Regiment. I found my company, all soldiers were glad at the meeting. I asked the company commander Alexander Skukin: “What do you think if I return to my company on my own?” He didn’t mind and accompanied me to the regiment commander Colonel Manoyko. I asked him: “Comrade Colonel, my situation is so and so. Take me back. I fought in the regiment more than a year, was injured two times.” Colonel was short-spoken: “Go to your company. We’ll do everything.” Although I was given that assurance I was uneasy about the lawfulness of my status and during the next halt I visited the regimental HQ. They told me: “Everything is normal. Don’t worry, we are enlisting you in the officer staff.” Soon I took part in the Kursk battle and was injured. After being healed in the hospital I was directed back to my unit. Everything was legal, however, my comrades-officers told me: “The counterespionage group began worrying about you.” “Why?” – I asked. – “They classify you as a deserter. Nevertheless, after you shed your blood in action, any fault was forgiven.”
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

A. D. – Where were you directed after the treatment of your fourth injury?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

N. Ch. – In December 1944 I was directed to Moscow, to be at the officer reserve disposal. After being lodged I was summoned for an interlocution. I thought: “I will ask them to direct me back to my 26th Guards Division.” In the office a major with a dark blue uniform cap on his head was sitting. While I tried to guess what kind of combat branch could be marked by that color, the major greeted me and stated the core of his offer: “We know that you had fought and were injured four times; that you have combat awards; that you are a member of Communist Party. We also know that you started but not completed your secondary technical studies in the Ivanovo Automobile Technikum. What would be your reaction if we take you in the KV NKVD?” (NKVD is an abbreviation of People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, while KV remained a riddle). A dialogue started.
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- What does it mean? Where is it?
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- Since you were a student of an automobile technikum, we want to appoint you the automobile company commander.
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- I didn’t complete my study. I don’t know automobiles.
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- You’ll learn everything there. What do you think?
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I estimated: it is the end of 1944 now, and Germany is going kaput soon. Therefore my answer was “Agree.”
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After me that major interviewed four more officers. All of them repeated my choice. One of them was a former battalion commander in a major rank. Others were just senior lieutenants as I was.
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We were directed for the next interview to the HQ of the KV Division in the Podbel'skii Street. While waiting for a summon, each of us tried to guess what the KV meant. Maybe the cavalry? What else? At that moment a strange covered truck stopped nearby. A captain went out of the HQ building. We asked him about the truck. The captain explained that its nickname is voronok and they use such trucks for convoying prisoners. Finally we understood that KV means CONVOY! The captain asked: “Do you, guys, remain with us?” Our response was unanimous: “No! All of us want to fight at the front!”
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In the diivision commander's office we stated: “Comrade General, we are front-line officers. We don’t want to serve with these troops. Direct us to the front. All of us are healthy and able-bodied.” The Major-General opposed in friendly manner: “Dear comrades, try to understand that the People’s Commissariat of Defense already handed over your files to us. Besides, you are members of the Communist Party, so you should respect its resolution. (It sounded like an order). Don’t become upset – you’ll feel here no worse than at the front. And now I’m giving you a 7-day leave to visit your homeland.” (Since all of us were from nearby localities, the offer sounded very tempting). OK, if so, we’ll have to agree. Anyway, our resistance was doomed to fail.
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Then I was directed from Moscow to Leningrad where the Convoy Brigade was located. The brigade commander in the colonel rank stated that he appointed me the convoy company commander. What kind of such a company commander could I be? I couldn’t even imagine what the convoy troops were. The position of automobile company commander was already occupied by former tank company commander (it made sense). So I asked the colonel to appoint me initially as the deputy commander of a regular rifle company. The division commander said to the chief of the personnel department: “Let’s first appoint Chistiakov the deputy company commander. When he gains his experience we’ll appoint him the company commander.”
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As a result, I found myself in the Riga Convoy Regiment as a deputy convoy company commander that served at the Kegum electric power station. The company guarded German POWs who were restoring the damaged station. The company commander was found to be a drunkard and in three months the command cleared him away. I was appointed the company commander.
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A. D. – Since your frontline life came to the end, let’s discuss some general issues of your war experience. My first question concerns the faith in our victory.
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N. Ch. – During several first days of the war the prewar confidence of the fast victory over the enemy had been strongly shaken, and when the Germans advanced almost to the Moscow outskirts it disappeared completely. However, after the battle for Moscow and especially when the enemy was driven away westward for some 200 kilometers, most people started thinking absolutely otherwise. The fact of the re-deployment of our military college from Kazan’ to Moscow in March 1942 evidenced our government’s confidence, although it was not so far to the front line. And naturally the Soviet people inherited this confidence. After Stalingrad and the Kursk battle one could notice the spiritual depression among German troops. By that time we already excelled past the Germans in armament, especially in tanks.
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A. D. – Could you please tell us about some bloodless aspects of your frontline routine?
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N. Ch. – I think it would be a collection of separate reminiscences.
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I’d like to start with the extremely long marches that our division performed when we were transferred from one front to another. Once it was 650 kilometers long and we marched for almost two weeks running. Sometimes we marched up to 55 kilometers per day!
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Such tests are unforgettable.
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Once you asked me about the frontline money allowance. Yes, every serviceman was due this allowance. However, most officers including myself never received the money: according to their applications the money was transferred to their families. I had six siblings and never felt the need for money at the front. We were provided with everything for day-to-day living, tobacco included, and our nutrition was quite enough. Do you remember that during my training at the military college I became a bag of bones? And in March 1943 I was photographed for the Communist Party-membership card: you see that I had already developed a round fat mug.
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Another topic – about hygiene at the front. Until spring 1943 we didn't wash ourselves for months and became extremely lice-ridden. Do you remember the episode when I saved our commissar? After that, still sitting in the shell-hole together with the squad commander, we kindled a small campfire and got into some conversation. I remember that he inspected his medal and discovered lice under the band. Out of spite he threw the medal into fire. “What are you doing?” – I asked. “Lice made me enraged,” – was the answer.
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In a couple of weeks our battered division was shifted to the city of Serpeisk for rest and reinforcements. Soon a field post for sanitary processing arrived to Serpeisk and began acting. It consisted of two rooms – a spacious “bath-house” with a shower in it and a small “lice-slaughter-house.” You should take off absolutely all of your uniform (including my green officer's military blouse) and underweare and put it for processing. Meanwhile we washed ourselves. The shower was good! The extermination of lice was a serious task of many specialists including medical doctors. We got rid of lice completely after the sanitary processing in Serpeisk.
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I'll finish these recollection with several lines devoted to our “frontline female friends.” In regards to myself, I had a short romance with a young woman of Tatar origin who served in the launder battalion. It took place when the division was taking in reinforcements for almost three months. We just regularly danced together, nothing more serious happened. She gave me her home address. Much later when I was treated in a hospital for five months it became clear that I was in the hometown of the woman. I visited her and saw my former “female friend” pregnant. There were talks at that time that some servicewomen became pregnant purposely – to leave the frontline risks and difficulties.
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In general, I treated women and with careful attention and respectfulness. A woman is a woman, especially at the front where she was in danger at any time.
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While discussing the “frontline female friends” topic, we can’t pass over the PPZh – the Russian abbreviation for a “campaign wife.” Many of servicewomen were officer’s PPZh. The platoon commanders hadn’t PPZh. We slept in the same dugout where our soldiers slept. And a company commander had his individual dugout. So, the company commander and officers of higher posts had more favorable conditions to have a PPZh.
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There was in our regiment such woman named Katia, a bracing woman. She was the regiment commander’s or the regimental HQ chief’s “campaign wife.” Usually a PPZh was decorated with the “For Combat Merits” medal. And this Katia had the orders of the Red Banner, of the Red Star and, of course, many medals. They hung on her so many decorations, though she actually didn’t know what the front meant.
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Many years passed and as a participant of the battle at the Kursk Arc I was invited to visit the memorable places. A group of such visitors was brought to the Marshal Rokossovskii’s blindage (covered with nine layers of thick logs!) The local veterans told us that nearby the blindage a house stood where Marshal’s personal mistress lived at that time. Moreover, the veterans said, shortly after Rokossovskii’s visiting a bomb raid took place and a direct hit destroyed the house. There were also talks that the famous actress Serova was his love.
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Up to me, Rokossovskii was the most handsome man among all our marshals and highest commanders, a noble, intellectual person.
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A. D. – Could you tell us more about your service in the convoy troops? How did you treat the German POWs? Do you remember some cases of escape or sabotage?
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N. Ch. – We treated the prisoners truly, without any slightest wickedness. Who was the German soldier, who was the German NCO? They were subordinate people who had been forced to fight. And they fought although many of them had no wish for fighting. Nevertheless, during the war any German wearing the uniform was an enemy, he was a real target. It was quite another matter when we had to do with the German POWs in the camp. There is a well-known feature of Russian people – they forget the harm fast.
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We, the officers and guard soldiers, perfectly understood everything. There were no insults, no instances of humiliation, and no complaints about the treatment in the camp. We allowed the prisoners even to play football outside the camp (of course under our observation).
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Everyone could notice how good the discipline was among POWs. Even being in camps for the POWs they kept the proper order and respect to prisoners of higher rank as if they were serving in the real army. In general, the German POWs’ behavior and their contribution to the restoration of many plants and civil constructions deserved some respect.
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POWs were fed quite normal. Somewhat worse than our servicemen, but there were no cases of dystrophy. The camp food guaranteed their vital functions and the ability to work. There were no complaints about the nutrition.
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There were two or three instances of escape during my service in Kegum. The majority of our wards worked at the electric power station. They installed the electric and hydraulic equipment. At the same time a small group of prisoners, about 50 men, worked at our timber-felling site. The guarded prisoners sawed trees and delivered the timber to the station. It was easy to escape from there.
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What it was – the escape of a German prisoner in Latvia? Latvians are close to Germans regarding both the history and culture. Most Latvians spoke fluently in German. So, if a German prisoner escaped in Latvia – it’s the end, he would never be found. The Latvians kept him. To tell you the truth, we didn’t attach special importance to these instances.
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lp-a@:After Kegum I served in Riga, the Latvian capital. Here the POWs restored the damaged radio manufacturing plant. The next place of my service was a settlement on the bank of Lielupe River. There was a big brickworks before the war there. When the war began the works was closed. More than one thousand of prisoners were relocated there. It was the biggest and most important colony of POWs. The bricksworks with its six furnaces for baking bricks was restored very fast, and began manufacturing bricks. Can you imagine the amount of bricks needed for restoring destroyed Latvian cities and towns? I worked there with enthusiasm for a year or longer. There were no escapes there.
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And there was no sabotage at all. Later five camps in Latvia were subordinate to me but nowhere happened something like a sabotage action.
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In 1947 a calamity happened in my family: my young wife passed away. Our one-and-a-half-year-old son remained. I was unable to tend him, so I asked the command to transfer me to the city of Ivanovo, where my mother-in-law lived. I was transferred there as a company commander.
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In the Ivanovo area I headed the armed guard of the camp where Generalfeldmarschall Paulus and his HQ chief Schmidt were the most famous prisoners. Being afraid of possible provocations of some German officers-prisoners, Paulus and Schmidt equipped a small table with a chess-board for themselves just under the watch-tower. In the morning after breakfast the two together came to the table and sat there at play and had the conversation up to dinner. The guard on the tower heard their talk but didn’t understand the language. As soon as Paulus became an anti-fascist he was transferred to the Moscow area. Only privates and officers remained in that camp…
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In 1954 the return of POWs to Germany was coming to the end. They were transported by trains. Doors weren't shut and the order and discipline were outstanding.
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A. D. – Did you have to do with the “forest brothers” after the war? Did you ever guard captured Vlasov's warriors?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

N. Ch. – I had no contacts with the “forest brothers” but the NKVD internal troops actively combated with them. At that time my convoy company guarded the investigatory section of the jail in the Latvian city of Cesis. There were “forest brothers” among the prisoners. We knew who they were.
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We didn’t guard Vlasov’s warriors either in Latvia or in Ivanovo Oblast’. We guarded only POWs and our convicts.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

A. D. – Where were you on the Victory Day? How did your postwar career develop?
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

N. Ch. – On 9 May 1945 I was in Tallinn. It was a great holiday, especially pleasing for frontline soldiers and officers. All Tallinn residents went into streets. Beer and vodka flowed like water… People celebrated marvelously but I had to remember that the convoy company was subordinate to me and I should keep an eye on it.
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My career was developing quite successfully. Gradually I reach the post of the regiment commander. Later I served in the Convoy Troops Central Board. I retired in 1983.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Interviewed, recorded and initially edited the Russian text by A. Drabkin.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Finally edited the Russian text and translated it into English by I. Kobylyanskiy.
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浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

Edited the English text by T. Marvin.
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  玉树凌疯,风流涕淌,装傻充愣,我本纯情
作者信息   主题: 【卫国战争老兵回忆】尼古拉·奇斯佳科夫 16822

工农红军


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【勤劳的小毛驴】



  发表时间: 2010-5-9 12:02:58             

特别提示:本帖子在 2018-9-5 13:12:10 由用户 白瑞德 编辑过

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I was born in 1923 and at the age of 16 I became an automobile technikum (technical secondary school) freshman in the city of Ivanovo. However, next year I stopped my studies – there wasn’t a livelihood for continuing my education. Our family felt a food and money shortage – there were seven children, and I was the oldest son. There was in our village a weaving worker’s cooperative where I succeeded in getting a job as a warehouse manager. I don’t remember what my salary was in rubles but I firmly remember – it was very low.
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我出生于1923年。16岁那年我进入了伊万诺沃的中等职业技术学校学习。第二年我被迫中断了学习——家里没有钱再继续负担我的学业。家里一共有7个孩子,我是老大。回到村里后没多久我就在纺织合作社里找到了份仓库管理员的工作。我不记得每个月的工资是多少卢布,但是我很清晰的记得钱很少。
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On Sunday 22 June 1941 my father and I worked in a forest where our family had a piece of woodland. It was a warm sunny day. During our lunchtime we walked to a village in some two or three kilometers. When we bumped into a group of local people they asked us: “Do you know that the war began?” The war began! There wasn’t a radio in the village, so, probably, the orderlies of the district’s military registration and enlistment office (18 kilometers apart) arrived.
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1941年6月22日是个周日,当时我父亲和我正在我们家的一块林地里干活。那是一个阳光明媚很暖和的日子。在午饭时间我们步行到距离大约两三公里的一个小村里。我们碰到了一大群当地居民,他们问我们:“你们知道战争已经爆发了么?”战争爆发了!那个村子里没有收音机,所以,我估计可能是地方军区的武装部征兵登记办公室的人(距当地18公里远)到了。
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I wasn’t 18 years of age yet. And our father was drafted right away and directed to the Nizhnii Novgorod area[下诺夫哥罗德]. I became the older man in our family. Nevertheless, soon all our pre-conscripts, including me, were mobilized for so-called labor front. We dug antitank ditches on the Volga River’s[伏尔加河] western bank. We also chopped down trees in the forest, then took them across the river where blindages and antitank escarpments were constructed. I worked there about four months until the military registration and enlistment office summoned me. At that time some of our villagers already received statements about their close relatives’ deaths in actions…
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我当时不满18岁。而我父亲应征入伍并被送往下诺夫哥罗德。我成为了家里最年长的男性。然而很快我们那些先前应征的人,包括我,都被动员成为支前民工。我们在伏尔加河西岸挖反坦克壕。我们也从树林中伐树,然后运到河的对岸以构筑掩体和反坦克障碍。我在那干了四个月,直到征兵登记办公室通知我去报到。当时我们村子里已经有很多家收到了亲人的阵亡通知书……
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I was drafted on 2 February 1942 and dispatched to the Moscow Machinegun-Mortar Military College that was temporarily relocated to the city of Kazan’[喀山] because the Germans still were not so far from Moscow.
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我是1942年2月2日应征入伍的,被派到了由于德军兵i;fDNpj[9n+:0临城下而临时迁往于喀山的莫斯科机枪迫击炮军事学院。
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On 8 March I received a telegram about my mom’s death. I showed it the training battalion commander. And such a vermin didn’t let me off to the funeral. I told him: “There is nobody there to bury her.” The captain retorted: “Are you the only one in that situation? Do you know how many families are perishing now on the West?” His refusal was firm, damn him. If it happened at the front, I’d have shot him, such an evil person! Those like he clung to their service in the rear with their hands and feet. This captain’s ugly face is still on my mind. Why not to release me for nothing but three days? It was so close – just some 430 kilometers from home!
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My father was released from the army as the only parent of six small children. He returned home after the funeral.
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5月8日我接到了母亲去世的电报。我把电报给训练营的领导看。但是这个混蛋居然不许我回家奔丧。我告诉他:“那里连给她下葬的人都没有。”他回答我:“你是唯一一个家里有这种情况的人么?你知道在西边有多少家庭都在死人么?”他到底还是不许我回家,这个王八蛋。
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如果要是在前线,我非得一枪崩了这个混蛋!当时有不少他躲在后方的人。我至今还记得他的那张丑脸。为什么连三天的假都不能给我?离得并不远—离我家才430公里!Tx.1HaTCq#RD*x我父亲由于成为了六个孩子的单亲,因此得以退伍。他在葬礼结束以后才回家。
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We stayed in Kazan' some two months. By April, when the Red Army forced the Germans a little more back, our college was relocated to the railroad station of Khlebnikovo[赫列布尼科沃] near Moscow. There the college occupied two buildings: the mortarmen building was near the station and the machine gunner building was located directly near the Moscow Canal. When we, the mortar men, first entered our casern, we saw walls, windows, doors and nothing more. Work orders for equipping the casern started. We fished out floating logs from the canal, dragged them to the power-saw bench where the planking was made. And so we equipped our caserne with plank beds. A room for our future studies was also furnished. We did a lot of hard work.
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我们在喀山呆了两个月。到4月的时候,当时红军在德军的攻势下节节败退,我们学院被迁往莫斯科附近的赫列布尼科沃火车站。当时学院拥有两栋大楼:迫击炮学员在火车站附近的楼里,机枪学员则在莫斯科运河附近的楼里。当时我们这些迫击炮学员走进兵营的时候,发现这里除了围墙、窗户、门之外一无所有。我们受命对营地进行整修。从运河里捞出木材,然后用电锯锯成木板。这样在宿舍里就有木板床可用了。一间教室也被我们整理了出来。我们干了很多脏活累活。
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The cadets were provided with a primitive quilted uniform: just jackets and trousers. Although there was quite cold weather we weren't even provided with mittens.
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At the same time we suffered from malnutrition. A watery pea soup was the breakfast. A pea soup and a tablespoon of cooked peas as a second course were our dinner. We had peas for supper again! Because of such nutrition I became a bag of bones.
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I can’t forget the graduation day in November 1942, when we were ready to leave the college. It was 5 p. m. The college “business figures” tried to make good at our expense: not to feed us the third time. All of us declared that we refused to leave until receiving the dry rations. They had no choice and fed us and gave the packed meals. There were 300 graduates – do you understand how much easy money they tried to profit that day!
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军校生只有那种样式陈旧的棉军服:只有上衣和裤子。尽管当时天气很冷但是我们仍未配发手套。
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同时学员们也忍受着营养不良的折磨。一份清汤寡水的豌豆汤是早饭。一份豌豆汤和一份当做主菜的一大勺煮豌豆是午饭。而晚饭居然还是豌豆!因为伙食如此差,我变得骨瘦如柴。
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我现在还记得1942年11月毕业典礼的那天,当时我们已经准备好从学院毕业。下午五点学院的1=c)29%bu“财务会计”想要结清关于我们的账务:即不打算给我们供应晚饭了。所有学员都表示除非分到了配给口粮否则拒绝离校。校方无可选择只得给我们分发了口粮。当时有三百名毕业生—你能理解他们要是得逞的话就能赚多少黑钱了吧!
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There was accelerated training for the mortarmen cadets. It lasted six months, 14 hours of training daily. We mastered the 50-mm company mortar. There were also the 82-mm battalion mortars, however I studied the 50-mm one.
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

当时迫击炮学员接受的是速成培训。在最后六个月,每天都要训练14个小时。我们使用50毫米连属迫击炮。当然也有82毫米营属迫击炮,当然我学的是50毫米的那种。
浪漫烛光 www.langmanzg.com

A. D. – How did you start fighting at the front?
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A. D. –你是如何开始你的作战生涯的呢?
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N. Ch. – Being in a lieutenant rank I was appointed to the 77th Guards Rifle Regiment of the 26th Guards Rifle Division as a mortar platoon commander. This division mainly acted in break-through missions. Only occasionally and no longer than a day or two did it take part in defensive fightings. The division usually pierced enemy’s defense and, if it was possible, continued advancing. Otherwise, another division replaced it, while the 26th division was shifted to the rear for reinforcements. Running many steps forward, I remember how we were stopped near Briansk[布良斯克]. A hemp field was the no man’s land. In the middle of it was a potato bunker. Both the Germans and we visited it in turn for potatoes. This situation lasted less than a day, and then we continued the offensive…
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N. Ch. –我当时被分配到第26近卫步兵师的第77近卫步兵团作为一名中尉迫击炮排长。该师主要执行的是突破任务。偶尔会在一两天的战斗中进行防御战,但不会打的很久。该师总是要突破敌军防御并且如果可能的话会继续发展胜利。然后就会有其他师接替我们,26师就会调到后方整补。在节节突进以后,我还记得我军是怎么在布良斯克附近停止了脚步。有一片布满了大麻的无人地带。中间有一个装满了土豆的地窖。敌我双方都在那搞土豆。战斗持续了不到一天,之后我们又开始继续前进了……
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In several days after my arrival in the unit, more precisely in late November 1942, our regiment was directed to attack the enemy. We forced a crossing over a frozen river and continued moving in the usual battalion column of march: 1st company, 2nd company, 3rd company and so on. We entered the battlefield as a marching column. It was my first combat, it was my baptism of fire that I can’t forget and will never forget. That wasn’t a war, it was a real crime. It was an ignorant and criminal play at fighting! For such guidance the command deserved death by shooting. Was it an organized offensive?
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在我进入该部队服役一段时间以后,正好是1942年11月下旬,我们团奉命向敌军进攻。我们强行渡过了一条冰河并以平常的行军纵队继续前进:一连、二连、三连等等。我们是以行军队形进入战场的。那是我参加的第一次战斗,是我没有忘记,而且永远不会忘记我永远难忘的炮火洗礼。那不是战争,真是犯罪。一个不学无术的罪人把部队带进了这场战斗!由于指挥不力指挥员当然被枪毙了。怎么能这么组织进攻呢?
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Absolutely not! No usual preliminary artillery bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. That combat was a genuine crime. Being not a military man you barely can imagine it. How could they direct a close column into fighting? Not to disperse it at least by platoons or squads if not in line? I was a platoon commander but didn’t know either enemy’s position or the direction of our attack. I’m sure that the Germans never entered a fight as a column of march. They never acted that way.
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绝对不能!未对敌人的阵地实施炮火准备。这场战斗真是犯罪。这简直是一个军人所无法想象的。他们怎么能命令部队以密集队形投入战斗呢?让部队成一条直线前进,连至少应该以班排为单位分散都没做?我只是一个排长,既不知道敌军阵地的位置也不知道具体的进攻指挥命令。但我肯定德国人绝不会以行军队形进入战斗。他们从不这么干。
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Let’s remember some details of that terrible combat. When we just approached the river I saw an injured horse standing. Although I was completely inexperienced I understood that the enemy was not so far ahead. Nevertheless, we were marching as a column. Then we crossed the river. The opposite bank was somewhat steep. When we ascended it, I saw a regimental 76-mm field gun standing in its emplacement. Although I wasn’t experienced, I knew that the position of a regimental gun couldn’t be farther than the third line of trenches. No farther! Thus, the enemy was somewhere nearby. We continued moving and passed the second line of trenches. Nevertheless, we kept on marching almost as if with a marching song. At the left of us I saw our tanks burned out in some one kilometer or less: one the turret blew up, the second, the third… A combat had taken place. We passed the first line of our trenches. The enemy’s shooting was already heard. As soon as we entered the no man’s land – all of a sudden they shot at us with all sorts of their weapon, they mowed us down!
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It was a true slaughter. A living flesh was turning into dead one. That was our start… Rifle platoon commander – killed. Deputy battalion commander for political affairs lost his leg… However, I remembered my duty and knew that we had to advance. I ordered my soldiers: “Ahead!” A small haystack and a group of bushes were at the center of the no man’s land. I explained to my subordinates that we will take our position in the middle of the bushes and we started running there by short rushes. Screams and groans were heard all around us – a true horror.
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让我们回忆一下这场糟糕战斗的细节。当我们接近一条河的时候我看到了一批受伤的马在那站着。尽管我完全没有经验但也能明白这意味着敌人就在前边不远的地方。但我们仍然以行军纵队前进。当我们过河的时候,发现对岸比较陡。在攀爬河岸的时候,我发现一门在掩体中的76毫米团属野战炮。尽管我毫无经验,我仍知道团属火炮的位置一般离第三线的战壕不远。肯定不远!因此敌人肯定就在附近的某个地方。我们继续前进,穿过了第二道战壕。然而我们仍然像踩着进行曲一样行军。在我们的左翼我看到大约一公里左右的地方有几辆被烧毁的我方坦克。一辆炮塔飞了,第二辆,接着第三辆…这里发生过战斗。等我们通过本方的第一道战壕的时候,已经能听到敌军开火的声音了。而我们一进入无人地带—对方突然用各种火器向我们开火,他们把我们打垮了!
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那真是一场屠杀。一个鲜活的生命变成一具死尸。这就是我的初战……步兵排长—阵亡。政治副营长丢掉了一条腿……尽管如此,我仍记得自己的职责并且知道我们必须要进攻。我命令士兵们:“前进!”在无人地带中间有一堆$*\".Pi|@vs9 6干草和一片灌木。我向部下解释我的构想,我们可以以灌木地带作为阵地,然后我们开始向目标猛冲。周围到处传来尖叫和呻吟—那是实实在在的恐怖场面。
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We took our position in the bushes and were preparing for fire. However, the Germans already noticed us, and their machine guns began to fire at our position. At the left of the haystack I saw a group of Uzbeks[乌兹别克人] or Tajiks[塔吉克人] shouting loudly in their language (they had such a rule: if something unusual happened – they gathered and began shouting).
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我们在灌木中占领了阵地并准备射击。可是德国人已经注意到了我们,开始用机枪朝我们开火。我看到在那堆干草的左侧有一群不是乌孜别克族就是塔吉克族 K (F?v-iUL士兵在那用他们本民族的语言大喊大叫(他们好像有这么一个惯例:如果有什么非常的事情发生—他们就会聚集在一起然后开始大喊)。
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As soon as we emplaced our mortars, a salvo of shells fell at our position. I had been injured in my right side. It wasn’t a serious wound but a shell’s fragment pierced the short fur coat, the quilted trousers and got stuck in my thigh. What should I do? Where was the company commander, the battalion commander? Nobody was there! I didn’t know who were our neighboring detachments at the left and at the right! I didn’t know where the enemy was! I didn’t know what was our goal! I didn’t know anything! My commanders should settle on both our immediate and following missions. We should be informed who were our neighbors at both sides, who would support us. However, nothing had been done…
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正当我们将迫击炮放列完毕的时候,突然几枚炮弹落在了阵地上。我的右侧受伤了。我伤的不严重,但是一枚弹片击穿了我的短上衣和棉裤,扎进了大腿里。我该怎么办?连长和营长在哪?一个也不在!我压根不知道左右两侧的友邻是哪个部队!不知道敌人在哪!不知道目标是什么!大脑一片空白!应该是我的上级指挥员来确定当前和之后的任务。我们必须和两翼的友邻取得联系,以获得支援。然后,我们什么也没干……
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Being injured I told my deputy: “You have to act for me and I will make my way to the regimental medical company. Let them clear away my wound and so on.” I went alone and still don’t believe how I managed to reach our rear under the intense fire. Perhaps the Germans weren’t interested in one-man targets as I was. In our medical battalion a doctor and a nurse cleansed my wound. Then I was evacuated to a rear hospital where I underwent the treatment for some 15 days or less. After the treatment – again at the front, again in my regiment of the same division.
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在受伤的时候我告诉副排长:“现在由你接替我指挥,我去团卫生连。让他们处理一下我的伤口”我开始一个人上路,而且难以置信的是我一个人穿过了枪林弹雨回到了后方地区。可能德国人不会对像我一样的单个目标感兴趣。在卫生营一名医生和一名护士清理了我的伤口。之后我被送往后方医院在那住了15天或者不到15天的院。在伤愈以后,我又回到了原来那个师的那个团。
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While being in our medical battalion I got to know that our regiment had a substantial number of casualties in that “offensive,” which I don’t like to remember. Actually, I became fuming each time I remember that awful combat. [Translator’s note: N. Ch. uses foul language]. How could it happen?! Did the regiment commander really not know where the enemy’s positions were? If he knew, why didn’t the battalion commanders know? Where was the division commander? General Korzhanevskii was an educated and intelligent general. Why then was everything organized so badly? Certainly, there were some individual culprits. If our battalion column had been dispersed beforehand in a line or at least by squads our losses wouldn’t have been so numerous…
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在卫生营住院的时候我得知了这次“进攻”中我们团真正的伤亡数字。直到今天,一想起这次糟糕的战斗我就愤怒不已(原译注:尼古拉 奇斯佳科夫在这里的lF(?yl59 ;H\B'原话是粗口)。难道团的指挥员连敌人阵地在哪都不知道么?如果他不知道的话,为什么营地指挥员不知道?师长又在哪呢?科尔热涅夫斯基将军是一个受过良好教育且足智多谋的将军。为什么所有事情都搞得一团糟?肯定有什么人在玩忽职守。如果我们的行军队形能够实现分散或者至少以班为单位,那我们的损失就不会如此之大……
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I'm continuing my narrative on the memorable episodes of my combat past. Our regiment was in trenches when I returned from the hospital in March 1943. Suddenly a nightly reconnaissance attack was launched. However it was so badly organized! Just two Katiusha's salvos at the enemy's first line of defense and we rushed ahead. Which way? A ditch full of wate ran along the no man's land. It turned out to be quite deep. I dashed into water up to the waist and jumped out right away. We continued our movement and reached a damaged truck in the middle of the no man's land. At that moment a command to return came in. Nobody knew whether the mission was successful, was a “tongue” seized or not. We returned to our trenches and foxholes. It was night, so all of us fell down as we were. I woke up in morning – wet through and covered in mud all over. I thought – that’s all: I’ll fall sick of cold or pneumonia. However nothing happened: no catarrh, no sneezing. My young constitution was perfectly prepared for such difficulties: no medicine, no tablets. Hot tea was a sufficient remedy…
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我还是接着讲讲那些难忘的战斗经过吧。当1943年5月我伤愈归队的时候我们团正在工事中。突然在一天晚上发起了一次威力侦查。然而还是组织的一团糟!仅仅对敌人阵地进行了两次喀秋莎齐射就发动了进攻。进攻路线?一条通向无人地带的满是积水的水沟。那条沟太深了。我进去的时候发现水齐腰深之后马上就跳了出来。继续前进,然后我们接近了位于无人地带中间的一辆毁坏的卡车。当时有一名指挥官加入了我们的行列。没人知道这次任务到底是干什么,为了抓舌头或者不是。我们后来返回了战壕和散兵坑。当时是晚上,所以全体官兵都在自己的战壕里躺着。早上我醒来的时 Par][ ~候—全身都湿了而且到处都是泥。我想—这下完了:估计会染上感冒或者肺炎。但什么都没发生:既没有发炎也没有感冒。我年轻力壮,这种小问题不在话下:不用看病,不用吃药。热茶就足够解决问题了……
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Next memorable episode happened during our advance. I saw in a German foxhole an abandoned MG-34 machine gun along with three cans of cartridges. My platoon continued to advance but I stopped and charged the MG-34. A German column was neatly visible at a distance of 300-400 meters. They just began retreating toward a forest. At that very moment I gave a long burst of fire at the column. all of a sudden. While firing I saw the Germans dashing aside in the column – a good evidence that I hit them. I remember that two cans of cartridges were used up. I fired until the machine gan began to “spit” and its barrel got red-hot.
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另一个有趣的故事发生在进攻的时候。我在一个德军的掩体中看到一挺遗弃的MG34机枪和三个弹鼓。我们排继续进攻而我则停下来给MG34装弹。我可以清楚的看到在300-400米外一队德国士兵排列着整齐的队形。他们刚开始向树林方向撤退。正好在这时候我瞄准这队德军打了一个长点射。突然,在我开火的同时看到德军士兵摔出了队列——很显然我命中了他们。我记得我用光了两个弹鼓。一直打到机枪的射击断断续续且枪管变红为止。
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I left everything on the spot for the “trophy command” that usually followed us and began catching up with my soldiers. Now I’m thinking (at that time I still wasn’t experienced enough) that the enemy took note of me, perhaps a sniper. It wasn’t similar to a stray bullet. A weak bullet, probably from a long distance, hit me. It pierced my quilted trousers, the boot, soft tissues of my leg and fell out. I keep it as a reminder of my second injury. Although no bones were hit, it was difficult to go and I stopped. Two medical orderlies helped me to reach our rear. Here the wound was cut a little, cleansed and sealed. Then I was evacuated to a hospital. I was treated there less than a half of a month. I was young, so the wound had healed quickly. I think that I deserved to be decorated for what I did with the MG-34 but my injury ruined the opportunity.
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当时我已经离开了自己的指挥位置,实际上担任了通常是跟在我们后边,在战斗开始以后才赶上来的“战利品管理员”的角色。现在我认为(当时我还没有太多的经验)敌人可能已经注意到了我,可能会有狙击手。因为从弹道上来看不太可能是流弹,一发已经是强弩之末的子弹,可能是射击距离很长,击中了我。这发子弹穿过了我的棉裤、靴子、打进了大腿上的软组织。我把这发子弹作为第二次负伤的纪念品一直保存着。尽管没伤着骨头,但我还是丧失了行动能力,停了下来p]7 B 6.$bc&;。两名医务兵抬着我返回了后方。在那医生处理了我的伤口,清洁伤口之后包扎。之后我被转到了医院里。我在那呆了不到半个月。因为很年轻,所以我的伤好得很快。我觉得我本应该因战斗中利用MG34机枪的表现而获得勋章,可惜由于受伤而未能如愿。
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I need to digress for a while to complete two topics mentioned above. The first one concerns the machine gun MG-34. Up to me, the German light armament was better than ours, especially the submachine guns and machine guns. Evidently the barrel of the MG-34 was perfectly designed and as a result the MG-34’s grouping of shots was much better than our machine gun's. Also the setting of MG-34’s cartridge belt was easy. There wasn’t a problem to master operation of the MG-34 as well.
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我在此想离题一下,解释一下之前涉及到的两个问题。首先是关于MG34机关枪。对于我来说,德国人的轻武器比我军的要好,特别是冲锋枪和机枪。很显然MG34机枪的设计非常完美,其结果就是MG34机枪组的射击要比我军的机枪好得多。同时MG34的上弹操作也很容易。对于这款机枪来说熟练操作不是什么问题。
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Now let me return to the decorating topic. There was in 1943 another combat when I deserved an award – that time I saved the battalion’s commissar with my mortar. At that time our offensive was stopped about 150 meters from a German trench which extended along an edge of a forest. We assembled our mortar in a shell-hole. Helmets of German soldiers were visible running along the trench. Unexpectedly I saw our commissar, a man at the age of around fifty, going toward German position (there wasn’t a complete front line yet) and they wanted to capture him. To rescue him I opened intense fire at the German trench – I was well trained in fire control. Finally the Germans dispersed in the forest and our commissar survived. I wasn’t awarded for that combat episode as well. Nevertheless, I was decorated with the order of the Red Star and with the medal “For Combat Merits.” Sorry, I don’t remember which year that happened.
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After the treatment in the hospital I was directed back in my division which was at that time near the city of Serpeisk[谢尔佩伊斯克], Smolensk Oblast' (province). Our battalion was situated in a small village, where both the reinforcements and the training took place. The division command chose a special ground for tactical training. It resembled the sector of the front where our break-through was assumed. In contrast to the 1942 experience, there was a wise attitude toward training the troops for combat. Do you remember that in 1942 the recruits from the Central-Asian region didn't even know how to use a rifle? When I remember these facts I don't want to live more...
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然后我再说说勋章的问题。在1943年另外一场战斗中我获得了勋章—当时我用迫击炮掩护了营政委。那时我军的进攻停顿在距离德军战壕150米,德军的战壕沿着森林边缘地带分布。我们在一个弹坑里装配好迫击炮。可以很清楚的看到德军的钢盔沿着战壕在运动。出人意料的是我看到了营政委,一位大约五十岁上下的男人,直接向IyF.m.J;h?v德军阵地前进(当时并没有完整的战线)而对方想俘获他。为了救他,我向德军战壕猛烈的开火-我受到过良好的控制火力方面的训练。最终德国人被赶进了森林,而营政委也得救了。我并不是因为救了营政委而授勋。不过我还是获得了红星勋章和“授予战功”的战功奖章。对不起,我忘了到底是那年的事了。在伤愈之后我回到了我们师,当时我师位于斯摩棱斯克州(相当于省)的谢尔佩伊斯克市附近。我们营位于一个小村庄,在那里接受新兵并进行训练。师指挥部选择了一处特别的地带进行战术训练。此处的地形类似于我师预定要实施突破的前沿地带。和1942年的经验形成对比,当时对部队进行战斗训练的态度非常正确。你还记得1942年那些来自中亚的新兵甚至连步枪都不会用的状况么?每当想起来这些事我都不想再经历第二遍……
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At that time the division was a part of the 11th Guards Army. The Army Commander was General-Major I. Kh. Bagramian. Our division was at the northern leg of the Kursk Arc. What happened at the Kursk Arc in summer 1943 was, of course, an outstanding battle. It was actually organized in the right way.
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当时我们师隶属于第11近卫集团军。该集团军的司令员是I. Kh.巴格拉米扬少将。我们师位于库尔斯克突出部的北翼。在1943年的夏天库尔斯克突出部发生了一场,当然,是举世注目的战役。这场战役的组织可以说非常出色。
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First, a strategic defense was organized there. The Red Army wore the attacking Germans down to such extent that they had no choice but to stop their offensive. Meanwhile a huge amount of guns, mortars, tanks and aircraft had been concentrated, and our troops launched a powerful counter-offensive. It started with extremely strong artillery bombardment. Our division was in the second echelon, so we started with the pursuit of the retreating enemy. All our troops were beating its heels.
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首先,在当地建立了战略防御。红军在如此广度的战线上消耗着德军的进攻实力,使对方除了停止进攻之外别无选择。与此同时我军集结了大量的火炮、迫击炮、坦克和飞机,发动了有力的反击。进攻以极其猛烈的炮兵准备开端。我们师位于第二梯队,因此我们一开始就对撤退之敌展开了追击。全部跟着敌人的后脚跟猛打。
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Actions of our low-flying attack aircraft were especially effective. Our attack planes the IL-2 were armed with missiles (“small Katiushas”). They performed their low-flying attacks by surges. The first surge finished, in a half of a minute – the second surge started, then – the third! It was nice to observe! And it was easy to advance, there was a high enthusiasm! The Germans fled, they abandoned everything, even trucks with their engines on. If at present, almost anyone could drive a truck or car but at that time a driver was a rarity. We put our mortars on German bicycles and continued pursuing the enemy. We also saw several short columns of German prisoners who were escorted by guards.
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我方进行低空攻击的强击机战果显著。IL-2强击机装备着火箭弹(“小喀秋莎”)。攻击呈多个波次进行。第一波攻击结束之后,大约半分钟以后—第二波攻击就开始了—然后紧接着是第三波!那景象太美妙了!接下来的进攻轻而易举,部队士气高涨!德国人逃之夭夭,扔掉了所有东西,甚至包括还发动着的卡车。如果是现在,几乎所有人都会开车但是当时一个司机可是很稀罕的。我们用德国人的自行车带着迫击炮继续追击逃敌。我们一路也看见了几个由卫兵看押的德军战俘队伍。
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Soon our battalion commander informed that the battalion was ordered to seize a small valley ahead of us. We had to dislodge the enemy, its strength was about one battalion. We approached the very edge of the valley and began installing our 82-mm mortars. My deputy, a senior sergeant of Smolensk, a robust and a very nice man stood ahead of me. Suddenly a heavy shell blew up behind him. He fell, and at that very moment a fragment hit me in the temple and got stuck there, while a second one pierced my neck, got into my mouth and I spat it out. The senior sergeant saved me with his body: it reduced the strength of the fragments that hit me. Soon it came to light that our regiment commander ordered the supporting 152-mm battalion to bombard German position at the edge of the valley. As ill luck would have it, the Germans had abandoned their trenches beforehand and the bombardment started just when we were occupying empty enemy’s position. So my third injury was a result of a “friendly fire,” and this time I can’t blame somebody for what happened to me. In any case I can’t say that it was done knowingly.
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很快营长通知我们营接到了命令,要夺取前方的一个小谷地。我们要赶走当面兵力约为一个营的敌人。我们运动到谷地的边缘,开始放列82毫米迫击炮。我的副手,一名来自斯摩棱斯克1?6R|!37N {DI的,经济充沛且人非常好的大士,站在我的身后。突然一枚重炮炮弹在他身后爆炸。他被打到了,恰在此时一枚弹片击中了我的鬓角并打了进去,同时第二枚弹片从脖子打进了我的嘴里,我也被打倒了。那名大士用他的身体保护住了我:减缓了击中我的弹片的杀伤力。很快事情的真相就明了了:团长命令负责火力支援的152毫米炮兵营炮击位于谷地边缘的德军阵地。但是我们的运气很差,德国人已经提前放弃了战壕,而当我们占领已经空无一人的敌军阵地的时候,恰好这时炮击开始了。因此我第三次负伤是的原因是“友军火力”,我没法因为这件事去责备什么人。无论如何我也没法说这是别人故意这么干的。
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Because of the injury I didn’t see how our offensive developed. Nevertheless, the Kursk battle demonstrated how much our power had gained – in tanks, artillery, aircraft. And our warriors changed as well, they became much more experienced already.
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After being treated in a hospital I returned in the division when the city of Orel[奥廖尔] was liberated. I remember burnt buildings in the city and a burnt German self-propelled gun “Ferdinand” on the Orel’s outskirts.
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After the Kursk battle our division took part in the successful “Bagration” operation[巴格拉基昂行動] in the Minsk direction. At that time we chased the enemy for about 300 kilometers. It was a substantial success.
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由于负伤的缘故我没能亲眼看到我军的进攻是如何发展的。
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无论如何,库尔斯克战役显示了我军已经具备了f*^RSO[7GYDBiP多么雄厚的实力——坦克、炮兵、飞机。同时我们的军人也逐渐变得善战,他们已经具备了足够的作战经验。
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在伤愈归队的时候当时正好赶上了解放奥廖尔。我仍然记得城市中燃烧的建筑以及在市郊看到的,燃烧的德制“费迪南”自行火炮。
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在库尔斯克战役之后我们师参加了明斯克方向发动的成功的“巴格拉季昂”行动。那次我们追击敌人达300公里远。那真是一次实实在在的大胜。
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Like my first and second injuries, my fourth one was a result of an actual crime. It happened by the end of July 1944. I remember that the rye in the field was still green but already high. Our division was in the second echelon and we marched in columns along an asphalt road Moscow – Minsk. We saw on the left of us a fire in the city of Orsha[奥尔沙]. Unexpectedly a regiment commander’s order arrived: our battalion had to cross a field and reach the branch of the road, where we will meet the enemy.
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就像我第一次和第二次负伤一样,我第四次负伤同样可以说是渎职的结果。那是在1944年7月底。我记得田野里的黑麦仍然是青的,但已经拔高了。我们师是第二梯队,当时我们沿着莫斯科—明斯克方向的公路行军。我们看到在左侧是燃烧中的奥尔沙。团长下达了一个出人意料的命令:命令我营穿过田野到公路的岔道上去,我们将在那里接敌。
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Nevertheless, the battalion continued to march in columns. The battalion HQ chief led the column. Being young and impatient I mended my pace and soon came up to the HQ chief. I told him: “We are in a combat situation although we don’t see the Germans. Why not to organize a patrol to know what is going on in front of us?” Using the foul language, the HQ chief tried to convince me that the Germans were retreating. I insisted: “Why not direct just an advanced patrol of two – a sergeant with a soldier? It would be quite enough.” I was unable to make him change his mind, the road was open and we continued marching. Soon we saw a knoll overgrown with shrubs on our way. When we were skirting it, the branch of the Moscow – Minsk road became visible. We saw there five “Tigers” moving toward Orsha with a company of submachine gunners on them. As soon as about a half of our leading company went out close to the road, the tanks stopped and turned round the turrets, while the submachine gunners leaped down into a roadside ditch and opened fire at our soldiers. Thank God that only a part of the first company was at the open land and all other detachments remained behind the knoll. My company was the last one, so I went into the middle of the shrubs. A terrible fire! Bullets targeted the shrubs, too. Suddenly a shell blew up somewhere beside me, and a fragment pierced my hucklebone. At first I was able to go and I decided to return where my company waited for me. I managed to overpass the knoll and see my soldiers but I fell down there unable to go. The injury was too serious. It was my last combat in the war.
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然而,营仍已行军纵队前进。营参谋长走在队伍的前列。因为年轻气盛,我紧走了两步赶UZ&!tX s\~mlMN&上了参谋长,跟他说:”尽管我们还没有发现敌人,但是我军已经处在战斗状态了。您为什么不组织巡逻对前方进行搜索?”营参谋长骂骂咧咧的试图让我相信德国人已经撤退了。我仍然坚持:“至少得派出两个人——一个士官加一名士兵——前出警戒吧?这样就足够了”我没放让他改变主意,公路地形十分空旷,而我们却仍然在行军。很快我们看到了一个生满了灌木丛的小山包。当我们绕开这座山包的时候,就可以看到莫斯科—明斯克公路的分支了。我们看到五辆虎式坦克载着一个脸的冲锋枪手向奥尔沙开进。同时我们先头连的一般人已经接近了公路,这时坦克停了下来并转动炮塔,而冲锋枪手则跳进了路边的沟里向我军射击。谢天谢地只有先头连的一部分处在开阔地,而其他部队还在小山包的后方。我们连在营的最后,所以我跑到了灌木丛的中间。激烈的战斗!灌木丛也挨了不少子弹。突然一枚炮弹在我身后的什么地方爆炸了,一枚弹片打进了我的坐骨里。最开始我还能走,所以我决定返回正在等着我的连队,我设法下了山包,但在看见我的士兵以后我却倒在地上,没法走路了。这次受伤非常严重,这也成了我在战争中的最后一场战斗。
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What can I say on this fight? Generally, the rifle battalion HQ chief was an important figure at the war. Why then that man didn’t organize his battalion movement according to the combat regulations? It was enough to appoint an advancing patrol in proper time – we would have no losses. Our 45-mm antitank guns could shoot down these tanks.
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I don’t know results of that combat (particularly, whether the tanks left their positions or not) because right away I was taken into a wagon and delivered to a hospital.
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我对这次战斗有什么看法?一般来说,4d1l61)a9TbXu步兵营的参谋长在战斗中扮演着重要的角色。为什么那个家伙没有遵循战斗准则来组织行动呢?当时有足够的时间向前进方向上派出搜索—那样我军就不会遭受损失。我们的45mm反坦克炮可以击毁那些坦克。
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我不知道那场战斗最后结果如何(显然,不管那些坦克是否离开了它们的阵地)因为我立刻被抬上了马车送往医院。
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In that hospital I heard that the 77th Guard Rifle Regiment fought there not so long before our arrival and failed. During that combat the Germans captured sergeant Smirnov[斯米尔诺夫], born in the city of Orekhovo-Zuevo. They questioned him but Smirnov refused to answer. Then the Germans crucified him like Christ – they nailed him to the wall of the dugout. Smirnov was posthumously awarded with the highest honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union...
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在医院里我听说第77近卫步兵团在我们抵达以前就战败了。在战斗中生于奥列霍沃-祖耶沃的斯米尔诺夫中士被俘。德国人审问他,但他拒绝回答问题。之后德国人像钉死耶稣一样钉死了他—他们把他钉在防空洞的墙上。斯米尔诺夫后来荣获了最高等级的荣誉—苏联英雄……
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I'd like to return to the cause of our losses near Orsha. I consider that it wasn't a mistake, actually it was absolutely plain crime. If you now ask the battalion HQ chief regarding his action, the answer would be: Chistiakov is wrong. Of course, negligence, indifference, and boasting of an easy victory were common at that time and exist to the present day. However, in 1944 we already had a wide combat experience. Even my view on how to perform military operations underwent substantial changes. By that time we had many experienced commander and soldiers, especially, among the mortar men, who were less liable to fall out than the riflemen. Some of them reached Berlin.
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我还是回到奥尔沙城外的这次失败中来。我认为这并不是一次失误,而是彻底的犯罪行为。如果现在你去问营参谋长关于当时他的行为,他肯定会告诉你:奇斯佳科夫说的不对。当然,疏忽、大意以及沾沾自喜于一场轻DH_j3Z*:h|c而易举的胜利无论在当时还是现在都是普遍的情绪。无论如何,在1944年我们已经具备了丰富的战斗经验。甚至我认为执行军事行动的方法也发生了真正的改变。当时我们拥有许多经验丰富的指挥员和战士,特别是迫击炮手,在损失上要比步枪手小。他们中的一些人得以最终战斗到柏林。
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You could see also a noticeable improvement in the quantity and quality of our armament and equipment. Remember for example the 40-50-minute-long artillery cannonades before our attacks at the Kursk Arc or near Minsk. It was pleasant to see how everything on the abandoned German positions was destroyed when we advanced after these cannonades.
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Can you compare this to our 1942 actions when nobody even knows where our enemy was? Was it a real war at that time? No!
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大家都可以看到我军的武器装备在数量和质量上的显著进步。比如说在库尔斯克突出部或明斯克附近,我军在进攻前实施的40-50分钟的长时间炮兵准备。
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我们在炮击之后展开进攻的时候,兴高采烈的看到在德军丢弃的阵地上所有被摧毁的东西。
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A. D. – What can you say about the hospitals?
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A. D. –谈谈医院的情况
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N. Ch. – I was treated in hospitals four times. After my last injury I was treated for five months. In general, the treatment was wonderful! It is hardly to believe that so many injured warriors were healed in such short terms.
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I was twice treated in the city of Pushkino[普希金诺] and one time in the city of Dmitrov[德米特罗夫], Ul’yanov Oblast’. These hospitals were situated in former school buildings. The treatment was perfect and the nourishment – wonderful.
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N. Ch. –我曾经四次因伤入院。最后一次受伤后我住了五个月的院。总的来说,治疗水平太棒了!很难相信有那么多负伤的军人在如此短的时间内伤愈。
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我住院的地方,两次是在普希金诺市,一次是在乌里扬诺夫斯克州的德米特罗夫市,那些军医院设置在学校的教学楼中。医疗水平非常好,而且伙食也棒极了。
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Why did my fourth treatment last five months? As you may remember, my hucklebone had been broken. In the hospital I underwent a surgery and initially everything looked healed, however, shortly after a fistula arose and some muck began dripping out from it. The second surgery was performed on me, again they cleansed all around. Alas, the muck continued dripping out. And I was directed to the mud care in the city of Serov, not far from the city of Kuibyshev. It was a sanatorium above a lake, and a small pond with the mud rich in mineral ingredients. A drastic mud. It sucked out all the muck, and it healed me. I remember a group of poisoned children arrived there from Moscow – all of them were cured. People walking on crutches came there and left the sanatorium walking well. I was discharged from there in December 1944. My bones never ached after that treatment. I even won the first category in skiing!
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为什么我第四次住院有五个月时间?你应该记得我曾经说过,我的坐骨受伤了。在医院里我接受了手术,最初伤势会的很正常,但不久之后瘘管(直肠附近的器官—译者注)出了问题,结果大便会从里边漏出来。所以我接受了第二次手术,他们把一切都清理干净了。唉,可是大便还是往外漏。然后我就被送到了距离古比雪夫不远的谢罗夫住院接受泥疗。那里的疗养院坐落在湖边,有一个小池塘里有富含矿物质的泥。这种泥疗效甚佳,洗出了所有的脏东西,最MNJW2!2}?CLS{C终我得以痊愈。我记得有一群从莫斯科来的中毒的儿童—他们都痊愈了。那些住着双拐的来疗养的人走的时候都可以行动自如了。我是1944年12月出的院。在此之后我的骨头再也没有疼过。我甚至后来还曾经拿过滑雪比赛的第一!
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Let me digress for a while to my previous treatment in hospitals. Each time when I was being discharged from a hospital I asked them to direct me back to my division, to my regiment. Only after my second injury the disharging commission refused and I was directed to the 18th Guards Division where I served in the division officers reserve. Once, in spring 1943, during division re-deployment to another front by a train, we had a stop at some railroad station. All of us left the train and took a lunch sitting at the roadside.Suddenly, a column of march headed by a brass orchestra approached us. Some of the bandsmen looked familiar. I asked them and they confirmed that was my 77th Guards Regiment. I found my company, all soldiers were glad at the meeting. I asked the company commander Alexander Skukin: “What do you think if I return to my company on my own?” He didn’t mind and accompanied me to the regiment commander Colonel Manoyko. I asked him: “Comrade Colonel, my situation is so and so. Take me back. I fought in the regiment more than a year, was injured two times.” Colonel was short-spoken: “Go to your company.
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We’ll do everything.” Although I was given that assurance I was uneasy about the lawfulness of my status and during the next halt I visited the regimental HQ. They told me: “Everything is normal. Don’t worry, we are enlisting you in the officer staff.” Soon I took part in the Kursk battle and was injured. After being healed in the hospital I was directed back to my unit. Everything was legal, however, my comrades-officers told me: “The counterespionage group began worrying about you.” “Why?” – I asked. – “They classify you as a deserter. Nevertheless, after you shed your blood in action, any fault was forgiven.”
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我再插一句以前入院治疗的情况,每次我出院的时候我都要求上级把我分配回以前的那个师,我自己的老团队。只有在第二次负伤之后上级拒绝了我的申请,把我派到了第18近卫师,我在那里作为骨干军官服役。有一次,那是1943年春天,我们师乘坐火车调动到另外一个战线去,在一个火车站停了下来。所有人5K3?X.-k/e(都下车在路边坐着吃午饭。突然,一队由管弦乐队打头的队伍逐渐靠近。其中有一些乐手看着很眼熟。我问他们是哪个部队的,回答说是我以前的第77近卫团。我找到了自己的连队,所有人都很高兴能再见到我。我问连长亚历山大 斯库金:“我要是回到自己的连队怎么样?”他想都没想就把我带去见团长马诺夫斯基中校(原文似应为Manovsky—译者注)我向他报告:“中校同志,我的情况是这样的。请让我归队,我在这个团服役了一年以上,并且两次负伤。”中校的回答很干脆:“去你的连队报到。回到你的战友中间。”尽管我获得了团长的许可但还是担忧关于自己身份的合法性,因此在下一站的时候我去了团部。他们告诉我说:“一切正常,别担心了。我们已经把你录入军官花名册了。”之后我参加了库尔斯克战役并再次负伤。在伤愈之后我再次要求回到以前的部队。一切都按规程进行,然而团长跟我说:“反特机关已经注意到你了”“为什么?”我问。“他们认为你是逃兵,不过,一个人要是在战场负过伤,那什么毛病都可以忽略掉。”
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A. D. – Where were you directed after the treatment of your fourth injury?
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A. D. –你第四次负伤痊愈以后被派到哪了?
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N. Ch. – In December 1944 I was directed to Moscow, to be at the officer reserve disposal. After being lodged I was summoned for an interlocution. I thought: “I will ask them to direct me back to my 26th Guards Division.” In the office a major with a dark blue uniform cap on his head was sitting.
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N. Ch. –1944年12月我作为一名待分配的军官奉命前往莫斯科。在安顿下来之后我被上级找去谈话。我想:“我还是要让他们把我派回到以前的第26近卫师去。”在办公室里坐着一名戴着蓝色军帽的少校。
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While I tried to guess what kind of combat branch could be marked by that color, the major greeted me and stated the core of his offer: “We know that you had fought and were injured four times; that you have combat awards; that you are a member of Communist Party. We also know that you started but not completed your secondary technical studies in the Ivanovo Automobile Technikum. What would be your reaction if we take you in the KV NKVD?” (NKVD is an abbreviation of People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs, while KV remained a riddle). A dialogue started.
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当时我想猜猜eCM oiZ8m*9/L什么兵种的兵种色是蓝色的帽子,那名少校向我打了个招呼以后转入了正题:“我们了解到你拥有战斗经验,而且曾经四次负伤;而且还曾经因战功受勋;你还是一名联共党员。我们还了解到你曾经在伊万诺沃的汽车技术学院中等技术专科学习,不过没能完成学业。我们想征求您的意见,是否愿意进入KV NKVD部队服役”(NKVD是内务人民委员会的缩写,当时我还不明白KV是什么意思)。然后我们就开始了谈话。
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- What does it mean? Where is it?
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- Since you were a student of an automobile technikum, we want to appoint you the automobile company commander.
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- I didn’t complete my study. I don’t know automobiles.
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- You’ll learn everything there. What do you think?
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I estimated: it is the end of 1944 now, and Germany is going kaput soon. Therefore my answer was “Agree.”
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After me that major interviewed four more officers. All of them repeated my choice. One of them was a former battalion commander in a major rank. Others were just senior lieutenants as I was.
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-您是什么意思?这个部队在哪?
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-因为你曾经是汽车学院的学生,我们想任命你为汽车连连长。
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-我并没有毕业,我还不熟悉汽车。
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-你将会在部队学习,你觉得怎么样?
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我当时琢磨:现在已经是1944年年底了,德国人很快就要完蛋了。所以我的答复是“同意”。
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We were directed for the next interview to the HQ of the KV Division in the Podbel'skii Street. While waiting for a summon, each of us tried to guess what the KV meant. Maybe the cavalry? What else? At that moment a strange covered truck stopped nearby. A captain went out of the HQ building. We asked him about the truck. The captain explained that its nickname is voronok and they use such trucks for convoying prisoners. Finally we understood that KV means CONVOY! The captain asked: “Do you, guys, remain with us?” Our response was unanimous: “No! All of us want to fight at the front!”
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我们被派往位于波德博利斯基大街的KV师司令部接受7lo [0ah下一次谈话。在等着谈话的时候,我们一群人都在猜KV到底是什么意思。没准是骑兵?要不就是其他的?这时候有一辆以前没见过的卡车在旁边停了下来。一名上尉从卡车里下来直奔司令部大楼。我们问他这是什么卡车。他说这是沃罗诺克的绰号,他们经常用这种卡车押送囚犯。最后我们才明白KV的意思居然是押解!那个上尉问:“怎么样小伙子们,加入我们的队伍么?”我们一致回答:“不!我们都愿意返回前线参战。”
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In the diivision commander's office we stated: “Comrade General, we are front-line officers. We don’t want to serve with these troops. Direct us to the front. All of us are healthy and able-bodied.” The Major-General opposed in friendly manner: “Dear comrades, try to understand that the People’s Commissariat of Defense already handed over your files to us. Besides, you are members of the Communist Party, so you should respect its resolution. (It sounded like an order). Don’t become upset – you’ll feel here no worse than at the front. And now I’m giving you a 7-day leave to visit your homeland.” (Since all of us were from nearby localities, the offer sounded very tempting). OK, if so, we’ll have to agree. Anyway, our resistance was doomed to fail.
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在师部的办公室里我们向首长声明:“将军同志,我们都是前线军官。我们不想在这支部队服役。请派我们到前线OPLX4"4~DMT@}去。我们全都身强力壮。”那些少将用一种很礼貌的态度反驳我们:“亲爱的同志们,你们得了解一点,那就是内务人民委员会已经把你们的档案转交给我们了。除此之外,你们都是共产党员,应该服从组织上的决定。(听上去其实更像是命令)。不要推翻对你们的分配—你们会发现这里其实并不比前线差。接下来我给你们七天探亲假。”(因为我们这些的家都在附近,所以这个建议听上去很诱人)。好,如果是这样的话,我们都愿意到这个部队来。无论如何,我们的反对意见注定是没用的。
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Then I was directed from Moscow to Leningrad where the Convoy Brigade was located. The brigade commander in the colonel rank stated that he appointed me the convoy company commander. What kind of such a company commander could I be? I couldn’t even imagine what the convoy troops were. The position of automobile company commander was already occupied by former tank company commander (it made sense). So I asked the colonel to appoint me initially as the deputy commander of a regular rifle company. The division commander said to the chief of the personnel department: “Let’s first appoint Chistiakov the deputy company commander. When he gains his experience we’ll appoint him the company commander.”
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之后我被从莫斯科派往内务旅所在的列宁格勒。这个旅的中校旅长任命我为连长。内务部队的连长有什么工作呢?我甚至不清楚内务部队的性质。汽车连的连长职务已hAMAZ/n1he*|(经给了一名前坦克连的连长(这也算人尽其才)。因此我请求中校在开始的时候任命我为步兵连的副连长之类的职务。师长跟人事科长打了招呼:“我们可以先让奇斯佳科夫当一段时间的副连长。等他积累了一定的经验之后再让他当连长。”
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As a result, I found myself in the Riga Convoy Regiment as a deputy convoy company commander that served at the Kegum electric power station. The company guarded German POWs who were restoring the damaged station. The company commander was found to be a drunkard and in three months the command cleared him away. I was appointed the company commander.
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最后,我被任命为驻扎于Kegum发电站附近的里加内务团的副连长。这个连的任务是t5u/(`R?5R{ U6N看管那些负责修复电站的德国战俘。结果上边发现我们连的连长是个酒鬼,三个月以后他就被撤职了。然后我被任命为连长。
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A. D. – Since your frontline life came to the end, let’s discuss some general issues of your war experience. My first question concerns the faith in our victory.
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A. D. –因为你的前线生涯到此结束了,那咱们来探讨一下你的作战经验。我的第一个问题是你们对于战争获胜的信心如何。
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N. Ch. – During several first days of the war the prewar confidence of the fast victory over the enemy had been strongly shaken, and when the Germans advanced almost to the Moscow outskirts it disappeared completely. However, after the battle for Moscow and especially when the enemy was driven away westward for some 200 kilometers, most people started thinking absolutely otherwise. The fact of the re-deployment of our military college from Kazan’ to Moscow in March 1942 evidenced our government’s confidence, although it was not so far to the front line. And naturally the Soviet people inherited this confidence. After Stalingrad and the Kursk battle one could notice the spiritual depression among German troops. By that time we already excelled past the Germans in armament, especially in tanks.
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N. Ch. –在战争初期的那些日子里,战前关于一旦战争爆发就可以速胜的信心被现实所动摇,而当德国人的进攻几乎抵达莫斯科郊区的时候,这种信心已经消失殆尽了。然而,当莫斯科战役结束,特别是当敌人向西撤退了约200公里以后,大多数人民的想法又转到了另外一面。我们就读的军事院校在1942年5月从喀山迁往莫斯科,这件事情就从一个侧面证明了苏联政府对于战争信心的恢复,尽管当时前线离莫斯科也不算太远。而自然而然的是苏联人民也为这种信心所感染。在斯大林格勒和库尔斯克战役之后,交战双方都可以看出德国军队在精神上越发消沉。那时我军在武器装备,尤其是坦克方面已经胜过了德军。
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A. D. – Could you please tell us about some bloodless aspects of your frontline routine?
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A. D. –你能不能说说在前线那些除了战斗以外的日常生活。
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N. Ch. – I think it would be a collection of separate reminiscences.
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I’d like to start with the extremely long marches that our division performed when we were transferred from one front to another. Once it was 650 kilometers long and we marched for almost two weeks running. Sometimes we marched up to 55 kilometers per day!
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Such tests are unforgettable.
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N. Ch. –我得从零散的记忆中搜索一下。我特别不喜欢我们师从一个前线调动到另外一个前线的时候要开始一段特别长距离的行军。有一次我们花了两个星期走了650公里。有时候我们每天得走上55公里!
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Once you asked me about the frontline money allowance. Yes, every serviceman was due this allowance. However, most officers including myself never received the money: according to their applications the money was transferred to their families. I had six siblings and never felt the need for money at the front. We were provided with everything for day-to-day living, tobacco included, and our nutrition was quite enough. Do you remember that during my training at the military college I became a bag of bones? And in March 1943 I was photographed for the Communist Party-membership card: you see that I had already developed a round fat mug.
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你之前问过我关于前线津贴的事情。确实是,每个军人都应该获得这样的津贴。但是,大多数军官,包括我在内都没有拿到过这笔钱:根据他们的请求将这笔钱汇给他们的家人。我家里兄弟姐妹有六个人,而且在前线也用不着钱。我们每天都有定额的配给生活用品,包括烟草,而且我们的营养也很充足。你还记得我之前说过,我在军校上学的时候瘦骨嶙峋么?1943年5月的时候我为了办党证要拍照片:你能看到当时我已经胖了一圈了。
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Another topic – about hygiene at the front. Until spring 1943 we didn't wash ourselves for months and became extremely lice-ridden. Do you remember the episode when I saved our commissar? After that, still sitting in the shell-hole together with the squad commander, we kindled a small campfire and got into some conversation. I remember that he inspected his medal and discovered lice under the band. Out of spite he threw the medal into fire. “What are you doing?” – I asked. “Lice made me enraged,” – was the answer.
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另外一个话题—关于前线的医疗卫生。到1943年春天的时候,由于好几个月没洗澡,我们饱受虱子的困扰。你还记得我救了我们政委的那件事么?在那之后,我和班长还一起呆在弹坑里,点起了一小堆篝火后聊天。我还记得他检查自己的勋章,结果在勋章的后边发现了虱子。为了泄愤他把勋章扔进了火堆里。“你干什么呐?”我问。“我讨厌虱子”他说。
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In a couple of weeks our battered division was shifted to the city of Serpeisk for rest and reinforcements. Soon a field post for sanitary processing arrived to Serpeisk and began acting. It consisted of two rooms – a spacious “bath-house” with a shower in it and a small “lice-slaughter-house.” You should take off absolutely all of your uniform (including my green officer's military blouse) and underweare and put it for processing. Meanwhile we washed ourselves. The shower was good! The extermination of lice was a serious task of many specialists including medical doctors. We got rid of lice completely after the sanitary processing in Serpeisk.
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在几周之后,我所在的师由于损失严重被转移到谢尔佩伊斯克市以休整补充。很快一所野战卫生站也抵达了谢尔佩伊斯克并很快着手开始工作。这个机构拥有两间屋子—一间大的是拥有淋浴设备的“公共浴室”另一间小的则是“虱子屠宰场”。大家得把所有制服一件不剩的(包括我的那件绿色的军官式样衬衫)还有内衣裤都脱下来,送交该部门进行处理。洗衣服的同时我们就洗澡。淋浴真是太棒了!清除虱子是一件极其严格的工作,这项工作由包括许多医生在内的专家完成。我们在谢尔佩伊斯克进行了卫生处理之后完全摆脱了虱子的困扰。
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I'll finish these recollection with several lines devoted to our “frontline female friends.” In regards to myself, I had a short romance with a young woman of Tatar origin who served in the launder battalion. It took place when the division was taking in reinforcements for almost three months. We just regularly danced together, nothing more serious happened. She gave me her home address. Much later when I was treated in a hospital for five months it became clear that I was in the hometown of the woman. I visited her and saw my former “female friend” pregnant. There were talks at that time that some servicewomen became pregnant purposely – to leave the frontline risks and difficulties.
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最后我来讲几段关于那些“前线女朋友”的事情。这事和我自己有关,我曾经和一个在熨洗营服役的有鞑靼血统的女孩有过一段浪漫史。那是发生在我们师进行了三个多月补充的时候。我们只是在一起跳舞而已,没发生过什么出格的事。她把她的家庭地址给了我。在我有一次住了五个月医院以后我才发现我就在那个女孩的家乡。我去拜访了她,发现这位我过去的“女朋友”怀孕了。当时有一种说法就是一些女军人会故意怀孕——以离开危险困苦的前线。
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In general, I treated women and with careful attention and respectfulness. A woman is a woman, especially at the front where she was in danger at any time.
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总的来说,我和女性接触的时候总是小心翼翼且彬彬有礼。女人毕竟就是女人,特别是在前线,时时刻刻处在危险中的女人。
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While discussing the “frontline female friends” topic, we can’t pass over the PPZh – the Russian abbreviation for a “campaign wife.” Many of servicewomen were officer’s PPZh. The platoon commanders hadn’t PPZh. We slept in the same dugout where our soldiers slept. And a company commander had his individual dugout. So, the company commander and officers of higher posts had more favorable conditions to have a PPZh.
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There was in our regiment such woman named Katia, a bracing woman. She was the regiment commander’s or the regimental HQ chief’s “campaign wife.” Usually a PPZh was decorated with the “For Combat Merits” medal. And this Katia had the orders of the Red Banner, of the Red Star and, of course, many medals. They hung on her so many decorations, though she actually didn’t know what the front meant.
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在讨论“前线女朋友”这个话题的同时,我们就没法忽视PPZh—俄文“前线情人”的缩写。许多女军人都是军官的“前线情人”。排长可没有“前线情人”。我们得和士兵们一起睡在战壕里。而连长则有自己单独的掩蔽部,所以,连长和一些更高级别的军官们有拥有“前线情人”的更佳的条件。我们团就有这么一个女人,叫卡蒂娅,一个挺够劲的女人。她好像是团长要不就是团参谋长的“前线情人”。一般来说前线情人们都会被授予“战功”勋章来装点门面^b3dqk9OQMY。而这个卡蒂娅有红旗勋章、红星勋章,当然,还有其他的什么勋章。尽管卡蒂娅其实并不知道火线意味着什么,他们还是给她颁发了许多勋章作为装饰物。
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Many years passed and as a participant of the battle at the Kursk Arc I was invited to visit the memorable places. A group of such visitors was brought to the Marshal Rokossovskii’s blindage (covered with nine layers of thick logs!) The local veterans told us that nearby the blindage a house stood where Marshal’s personal mistress lived at that time. Moreover, the veterans said, shortly after Rokossovskii’s visiting a bomb raid took place and a direct hit destroyed the house. There were also talks that the famous actress Serova was his love.
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许多年以后,作为库尔斯克战役的亲历者,我受邀参加一次纪念活动。一群访问者被带到了罗科索夫斯基元帅曾经用过的掩体(由九层粗圆木加固!)一名当地的老兵告诉我们就在这座掩体的附近有一所房子,当时元帅本人的情妇就住在那里。而且,那个老兵还说,罗科索夫斯基有一次离开不久,一枚炮弹就直接命中了那座房子。另外我们还谈到了罗科索夫斯基和著名演员谢罗娃的爱情。
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Up to me, Rokossovskii was the most handsome man among all our marshals and highest commanders, a noble, intellectual person.
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在我看来,罗科索夫斯基是我们所有元帅和高级将领中最英俊的一个,他是一个贵族,一个足智多谋的人。
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A. D. – Could you tell us more about your service in the convoy troops? How did you treat the German POWs? Do you remember some cases of escape or sabotage?
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A. D. –你能多说说你在内卫部队的服役经历么?你是怎么对待德国战俘的?是否有一些越狱或者破坏事件的发生?
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N. Ch. – We treated the prisoners truly, without any slightest wickedness. Who was the German soldier, who was the German NCO? They were subordinate people who had been forced to fight. And they fought although many of them had no wish for fighting. Nevertheless, during the war any German wearing the uniform was an enemy, he was a real target. It was quite another matter when we had to do with the German POWs in the camp. There is a well-known feature of Russian people – they forget the harm fast.
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N. Ch. –我们对待战俘可以说是真心实意的,没有施加哪怕一点恶行。我们知道谁是士兵,谁是军士。他们都是德国的下层人民,是被迫上战场的。而且尽管他们上了战场,其中的许多人也是厌战的。然而,在战场上,只要是穿着制服的德国人都是敌人,对我们来说他就是射击的目标。而在战俘营中和德国俘虏相处则是完全不同的另外一回事了。这时候俄罗斯人的另外一面就显露出来了—他们很快就忘记了这些德国人施加的恶行。
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We, the officers and guard soldiers, perfectly understood everything. There were no insults, no instances of humiliation, and no complaints about the treatment in the camp. We allowed the prisoners even to play football outside the camp (of course under our observation).
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我们这些负责看押的军官和士兵,对所有事情的了解都很深刻。没有人对战俘施加虐待,没人让这些战俘蒙羞,也没有人因为战俘营的条件而抱怨。我们甚至允许俘虏在战俘营外边踢足球(当然是在我们的监管之下)。
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Everyone could notice how good the discipline was among POWs. Even being in camps for the POWs they kept the proper order and respect to prisoners of higher rank as if they were serving in the real army. In general, the German POWs’ behavior and their contribution to the restoration of many plants and civil constructions deserved some respect.
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我们所有人都注意到德国战俘所曾经接受到的良好训练。甚至是在战俘营中,俘虏仍然像仍在军队中服役一样,遵守命令,同时对军阶较高的战俘保持尊敬。总的来说,这些德国战俘的举止以及他们对于恢复农业生产和重建民用设施所作出的贡献应该是值得尊重的。
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POWs were fed quite normal. Somewhat worse than our servicemen, but there were no cases of dystrophy. The camp food guaranteed their vital functions and the ability to work. There were no complaints about the nutrition.
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There were two or three instances of escape during my service in Kegum. The majority of our wards worked at the electric power station. They installed the electric and hydraulic equipment. At the same time a small group of prisoners, about 50 men, worked at our timber-felling site. The guarded prisoners sawed trees and delivered the timber to the station. It was easy to escape from there.
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战俘的饮食是比较正常的。虽然比我们军人的饮食要差一些,但是并没有战俘营养不良的个例。战俘营的饮食保证了战俘正常的生活所需以及从事劳动的能力。没有人抱怨过饮食太差。我在Kegum服役的时候确实有两三个越狱的案例。当时我们的警卫人员都在电站工作。主要是操作电力和液压设备。而就在这个时候一小群战俘,大约五十个人,在伐木场干活^)IGnw~j(M;gm e。这些被羁押的战俘干的是伐树,然后把木料运到电站的活儿。从那可以很容易的逃跑。
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What it was – the escape of a German prisoner in Latvia? Latvians are close to Germans regarding both the history and culture. Most Latvians spoke fluently in German. So, if a German prisoner escaped in Latvia – it’s the end, he would never be found. The Latvians kept him. To tell you the truth, we didn’t attach special importance to these instances.
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After Kegum I served in Riga, the Latvian capital. Here the POWs restored the damaged radio manufacturing plant. The next place of my service was a settlement on the bank of Lielupe River. There was a big brickworks before the war there. When the war began the works was closed. More than one thousand of prisoners were relocated there. It was the biggest and most important colony of POWs. The bricksworks with its six furnaces for baking bricks was restored very fast, and began manufacturing bricks. Can you imagine the amount of bricks needed for restoring destroyed Latvian cities and towns? I worked there with enthusiasm for a year or longer. There were no escapes there.
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为什么是拉脱维亚境内的德国战俘会越狱呢?拉脱维亚人无论在历史还是文化上都比较亲德。大多数拉脱维亚人都能说一口流利的德语。所以,如果一个德国战俘在拉脱维亚境内越狱—那就完了,根本抓不到他。拉脱维亚人会窝藏战俘。实话告诉你,我们其实并不太重视这些事情。在Kegum以后我调到了拉脱维亚的首都里加工作。在那里俘虏们重建了被毁坏的无线电工厂。我之后在利耶卢佩河附近的一个地方服役。那里战前有一个大砖场,战争开始以后砖场关闭了。后来有一千多名战俘被送到了这里。这是最多也是最重要的一批战俘。这座有六个砖窑的砖场很快就恢复了声场。你能想象那些被战争摧毁的拉脱维亚城市和乡村需要多少砖来重建么?我在那热情高涨的工作了一年多。没有一例越狱行为。
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And there was no sabotage at all. Later five camps in Latvia were subordinate to me but nowhere happened something like a sabotage action.
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In 1947 a calamity happened in my family: my young wife passed away. Our one-and-a-half-year-old son remained. I was unable to tend him, so I asked the command to transfer me to the city of Ivanovo, where my mother-in-law lived. I was transferred there as a company commander.
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同时也没发生过破坏事件。不久以后我在拉脱维亚境内掌管五座战俘营,但从来没有发生过什么破坏事件。1947年我们家遭遇了不幸:我年轻的妻子去世了。留下了一岁半的儿子。我没法照顾他,因此我请求上级把我调到伊万诺沃,我的岳母住在那。我被调到那担任连长。
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In the Ivanovo area I headed the armed guard of the camp where General field marschall Paulus and his HQ chief Schmidt were the most famous prisoners. Being afraid of possible provocations of some German officers-prisoners, Paulus and Schmidt equipped a small table with a chess-board for themselves just under the watch-tower. In the morning after breakfast the two together came to the table and sat there at play and had the conversation up to dinner. The guard on the tower heard their talk but didn’t understand the language. As soon as Paulus became an anti-fascist he was transferred to the Moscow area. Only privates and officers remained in that camp…
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在伊万诺沃地区,我担任的战俘营里有保卢斯元帅以及他的参谋长施密特这样著名的战俘。为了避免激怒其他被俘的德国军官,保卢斯和施密特只是在水塔下有一张属于他们俩的有棋盘的小桌。在吃完早饭以后他们会在那里下棋,在午餐的时候他们也会在那里聊天。水塔的警卫士兵能听到他们的谈话,但不懂德语。在保卢斯转变为一个反法西斯主义者之后,他就被送到了莫斯科。而其他士兵和军官们则仍然呆在这个战俘营中……
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In 1954 the return of POWs to Germany was coming to the end. They were transported by trains. Doors weren't shut and the order and discipline were outstanding.
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1954年的时候遣返德国战俘的工作已经接近完毕了。他们被送上了火车。车厢的车门不必上锁,德国人表现h`6WYn RO 7v7的非常遵守命令及秩序。
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A. D. – Did you have to do with the “forest brothers” after the war? Did you ever guard captured Vlasov's warriors?
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A. D. –你在战后曾经和那些“绿林好汉”(估计是反苏的游击队—译者注)交过手么?你曾经看押过被俘的弗拉索夫分子么?
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N. Ch. – I had no contacts with the “forest brothers” but the NKVD internal troops actively combated with them. At that time my convoy company guarded the investigatory section of the jail in the Latvian city of Cesis. There were “forest brothers” among the prisoners. We knew who they were.
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N. Ch. –我没有和“绿林AP(BQGd2EH_好汉”接触过,不过NKVD内务部队倒是经常和他们交火。当时我的内卫连在拉脱维亚城市采西斯的研究部门的监狱负责警卫。囚犯里有“绿林好汉”的成员,我们知道那些人都是谁。
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We didn’t guard Vlasov’s warriors either in Latvia or in Ivanovo Oblast’. We guarded only POWs and our convicts.
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我们无论在拉脱维亚还是伊万诺沃州都从来没看押过弗拉索夫分子。我们只看押过战俘和我国的一些罪犯。
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A. D. – Where were you on the Victory Day? How did your postwar career develop?
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A. D. –胜利日的时候你在哪?你的战后生活又是一个什么轨迹呢?
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N. Ch. – On 9 May 1945 I was in Tallinn. It was a great holiday, especially pleasing for frontline soldiers and officers. All Tallinn residents went into streets. Beer and vodka flowed like water… People celebrated marvelously but I had to remember that the convoy company was subordinate to me and I should keep an eye on it.
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My career was developing quite successfully. Gradually I reach the post of the regiment commander. Later I served in the Convoy Troops Central Board. I retired in 1983.
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N. Ch. –1945年5月9日我当时在塔林。那真是一个盛大的节日,特别是对于那些前线官兵来说。所有塔林市民都涌上了街道。啤酒和伏特加像水一样流淌……人们兴高采烈的庆祝胜利,但是我还记得我指挥着一个内卫连,要时刻注意着我的工作。
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我的生活可以说非常成功。我逐渐被升到了团长}FJ*YmS"的职务。后来我被调到了内务部队中央机构工作。1983年退休。
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Interviewed, recorded and initially edited the Russian text by A. Drabkin.
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采访、记录及俄文初校:A 德拉布坎
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Finally edited the Russian text and translated it into English by I. Kobylyanskiy.
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俄文定稿及俄译英:I科贝良斯基
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Edited the English text by T. Marvin.
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英文编校:T 马文
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  殊死的战斗不是为了荣耀,而是为了大地上的生活
作者信息   主题: 【卫国战争老兵回忆】尼古拉·奇斯佳科夫 16842

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  发表时间: 2010-5-9 20:58:20             


不错不错,工农红军老兄翻译的非常好,一篇非常好的传记译作,在此老白向您表示感谢!



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